Lincoln is just a few weeks away from droves of students returning to its college campus.

The annual migration might be a bit different this year. Even though the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has room for 7,100 students on campus, the waiting lists for suite-style rooms are getting longer.

Freshmen are required to live in university housing, but it isn’t just underclassmen looking to live closer. Why? “Students that live closer to campus usually do better academically,” said school chancellor Harvey Perlman.

A new housing venture called The 50/50 has one of the lengthiest waiting lists. Sporting a full kitchen, washer and dryer and optimal location, the new living complex is luring students to the edge of campus.

“Having the option of living close and being able to walk is a really convenient factor,” said UNL senior Sarah Petsche.

The facility has already reached its capacity of 475 students. Even with the newest hall in university housing, Eastside Suites, opening 521 beds this year, there’s still a surplus of students looking to live on campus. The university has to reopen 150 beds in an old dorm that was taken offline just to keep up with requests.

“We have a strong demand for housing,” Perlman said. “We think our enrollment is going to be very strong this year.”

Perlman isn’t kidding. Last year the university saw the largest incoming class in three decades. Moving to the Big Ten Conference has UNL considering new objectives for enrollment -- goals that include increasing admissions at the university to 30,000 students by 2020.

With the university not planning any more new housing projects on campus in the near future, finding an apartment close to class may continue to be a challenge.

“It's pretty competitive,” Petsche said. “I know coming in as a freshman to get a dorm you wanted you had to put in pretty far in advance.”